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phases: Territorial Expansion; Increase of Population and Wealth; Political Developement; Social and Intellectual Progress; National Unity.

From 1841 to 1867 the provinces of British North America remained isolated from each other as distinct political entities, only united by the tie of a common allegiance to one Sovereign. Their political organisation was confined to the country extending from the head of Lake Superior to the countries watered by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. Of these provinces Ontario was the most populous and the richest in agricultural wealth, although it has not as great an area as the province of Quebec, where a more rigorous climate and large mountainous tracts-the hills of the Laurentides-have rendered the country less favourable for extensive and productive farming operations. A very considerable portion of Ontario, even in those days, was a wilderness, and the principal cultivated tract extended for a few miles from the St. Lawrence, and the most populous settlements lay between Ontario, Erie, and Huron. The Confederation of 1867 brought four provinces into one territorial organisation for general or Dominion purposesOntario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick-and it was not until 1873 that little Prince Edward Island, the garden of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, united its political fortunes with those of the young Confederation. Efforts were made to bring in Newfoundland, but purely selfish local considerations prevailed in that island over the national sentiment; though the unwisdom of the course pursued by the island politicians has become evident according as the fishery question with the United States comes up from time to time, and it is now quite clear that this large colony, which has been placed as a sentinel at the portals of Canada, must ere long fall into line with its sister colonies in North America. One of the most important results of confederation in its early days was the annexation by the Dominion of that vast tract of country which up to that time had been almost exclusively in the possession of the Indians and the traders of the Hudson's Bay Company-that region well described by General Butler as the Lone Land,' over whose trackless wastes French adventurers had been the first to pass a region of prairies, watered by great rivers and lakes, above whose western limits tower the lofty, picturesque ranges of the Rockies. Next came into confederation the province of British Columbia, which extends from the Rockies to the waters of the Pacific Ocean-a

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country with a genial climate, with rapid rivers teeming with fish, with treasures of coal and gold, with sublime scenery only rivalled by California. A new province was formed in the North-West, watered by the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and territorial districts, as large as European states, arranged for purposes of government out of the vast region that now, with the sanction of the Imperial authorities, has been brought under the jurisdiction of the Government of Canada. Within a period of twenty-seven years Canada has stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the territory now under her control is very little inferior in extent to that of the great republic to the south, and contains within itself all the elements of a prosperous future. It is, unhappily, true that this result was not achieved until blood had been shed and much money expended in crushing the rebellious halfbreeds led by the reckless Riel; but, apart from this sad feature of Canadian history, this important acquisition of territory, the first step in the formation of an empire in the West, has been attained under circumstances highly advantageous to the Dominion. Canada now possesses an immense territory of varied resources-the maritime provinces, with their coal, fish, and shipping, together with a valuable, if limited, agricultural area, not yet fully developed; the large province of Quebec, with ranges of mountains on whose slopes, when denuded of their rich timber, may graze thousands of cattle and sheep, with valuable tracts of meadow lands, capable of raising the best cereals, and already supporting some of the finest cattle of the continent; the rich province of Ontario, which continues to be the chief agricultural section of the Dominion, and whose cities and towns are full of busy industries; the vast North-West region, still in the very infancy of its developement, destined to give the confederation several provinces outside of Manitoba, as large and productive as Minnesota, and to be the principal wheat-growing district of Canada; and, finally, the gold-producing province of British Columbia, whose mountains are still rich with undeveloped treasures, and whose mild climate invites a considerable industrious population to cultivate its slopes and plateaus, and collect the riches of its river and deep-sea fisheries.

*The first revolt of the half-breeds, or Métis, of Manitoba, was in 1869; the second in the spring of 1885; Riel was executed in the fall of 1885.

The population which owns this vast territory is confined chiefly to the countries by the great lakes, the St. Lawrence, and the Atlantic Ocean. A considerable number of people has within a few years flowed into the NorthWest, where the province of Manitoba is exhibiting all the signs of a prosperous agricultural country, and its capital, Winnipeg, has grown up in the course of sixteen years into a city of some 27,000 souls. The population of the whole. Dominion may now be estimated at about 5,000,000 souls, and has increased nearly five times since 1837. Of this population 1,250,000 are the descendants of 70,000 or 65,000 people who were probably living in the French province at the time of the conquest (1759-60). The remainder of the population is made up of English, Scotch, and Irish. The immigration of late years has been insignificant compared with that which has come into the United States, and consequently at present the natural-born population amounts to about 85.09 per cent. of the whole. The people of Canada have already won for themselves a large amount of wealth from the riches of the land, forest, and seas. The total value of the imports is now about 26,000,000l., and of exports at least 25,000,000l., or an aggregate of 51,000,000l. a year, an increase of 35,000,000l. within half a century. Of this large trade at least 11,000,000l. represents the products of the farms. The province of Ontario now raises over 20,000,000 bushels of wheat alone, or an increase of over 19,000,000 since 1837. The North-West raises upwards of 20,000,000 bushels, or an increase of 17,000,000 in ten years. The people have deposited in Government savings banks, leaving out of the calculation the ordinary monetary institutions of the country, about 11,000,000l., made up of about 114,000 deposits, belonging to mechanics, farmers, and people of limited means. For years the only industries of importance were the building of ships, the cutting of timber, and a few illsupported manufactures of iron and various hard and soft wares. Now there is upwards of 72,000,000l. invested in manufactures, chiefly of cotton and woollen goods, of which the coarser fabrics compete successfully with English goods in the Canadian market, even crowding out certain classes entirely. Some fourteen lines of ocean steamers call at the port of Montreal, which now has a population of over 200,000 souls. Toronto comes next in population, about 184,000; whilst the other cities, like Halifax, St. John, Quebec, Ottawa, Hamilton, and London, range

from 64,000 to 30,000. The aggregate of the population of the cities and towns with over 5,000 population amounts to some 700,000 souls, or two-thirds of the total population of Canada in 1840. The urban population of Canada increased in 1891 to 1,390,910, compared with 912,934 in 1881, or an increase of 21.1 per cent. in ten years, illustrating that there has been going on the same movement that has prevailed in the United States. The total revenue of the Dominion, apart from the local and provincial revenues, is about 7,000,000l. a year, raised mainly from customs and excise duties, which are high, owing to the national or protective policy, although much lower than those on similar goods in the United States. If the expenditures of Canada of late years have been very large, they have been mainly caused by the developement of the country, and by the necessity of providing rapid means of intercommunication for trade and population in a country extending between two oceans. Canals, lighthouses, the acquisition and opening up of the North-West, and Government buildings, have absorbed at least 40,000,000l. since 1867, and it is not remarkable, under these circumstances, that a gross debt has been accumulated within half a century of over 60,000,000l., against which must be set valuable assets in the shape of buildings and public works necessary to the progress of a new country. The public buildings, churches, and universities display within a quarter of a century a great improvement in architectural beauty, whilst the homes of the people show, both in the interior and exterior, decided evidences of comfort, convenience, and culture. Instead of the fourteen miles of railway which existed in 1837, there are now about 15,000 miles in actual operation, affording facilities for trade and commerce not exceeded by any country in the world. One of these railways, the Canadian Pacific, which reaches from Quebec to Vancouver, on the Pacific Ocean, is the most remarkable illustration of railway enterprise ever shown by any country; certainly without a parallel for rapidity of construction, even in the United States, with all its wealth, population, and commercial energy. These railways represent an investment of nearly 200,000,000l., in the shape of capital stock, municipal and Government bonuses. The interprovincial trade-a direct result of the federation--is at least 25,000,000l. a year. These are some of the most remarkable evidences of material developement which Canada has exhibited within fifty years. All those who wish to pursue the subject further need only

VOL. CLXXXI. NO. CCCLXXII.

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refer to the Blue Books to see that the fisheries, the timber trade, and the agricultural products of Canada have all increased in the same ratio, notwithstanding commercial crises, bad harvests, and depression produced in certain branches of industry by the policy pursued by the United States for some years towards the Canadian Dominion. When we consider that the United States has received the great bulk of immigration for half a century, and that it is only quite recently that a deep interest has been taken in the developement of the Dominion by the people of Europe, it is remarkable that in every branch of trade and industry so steady a progress has been made during the reign.

In a new country like Canada one cannot look for the high culture and intellectual standard of the old communities of Europe. But there is even now in Canada an intellectual activity which, if it has not yet produced a distinct literature, has assumed a practical and useful form, and must, sooner or later, with the increase of wealth and leisure, take a higher range, and display something of the beauty and grace of literary productions of worldwide interest and fame. The mental outfit of the people compares favourably with that of older countries. The Universities of Canada-McGill in Montreal, Laval in Quebec, Queen's in Kingston, Dalhousie in Halifax, and Trinity and Toronto Universities in Toronto-stand deservedly high in the opinion of men of learning in the Old World and the United States, whilst the grammar and common school system, especially of Ontario, is creditable to the keen sagacity and public spirit of the people, who are not behind their cousins in New England in this particular. We have already seen the low condition of education fifty years ago— only one in fifteen at school; but now there are nearly 1,000,000 pupils in the educational institutions of the country, or one in five, at a cost to the people of upwards of 2,000,000l., contributed for the most part by the taxpayers of the different municipalities in connexion with which the educational system is worked out. In Ontario the class of schoolhouses is exceptionally good, and the apparatus excellent, and the extent to which the people tax themselves may be ascertained from the fact that the legislature only contributes annually some 52,000l. out of the total expenditure of about 800,0007.

In French Canada there is an essentially literary activity, which has produced poets and historians whose works have naturally attracted attention in France, where the people

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